Michael Lambert, a Bronx Science grad and longtime Montefiore Medical Center employee, was recently hired as executive director of the Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District (BID) and deputy director of Mosholu Preservation Corporation. He sat down with the Norwood News to talk about his new position, the benefits of a BID, and why he might make a great Jeopardy contestant.

Q: What did you do before becoming executive director of the Jerome-Gun Hill BID?
A: I worked as program director of the New York Children’s Health Project which provides primary care health services and related support services to homeless children and families throughout four of the five boroughs of New York, using mobile medical units.

Q: What attracted you to this job?
A: I think the diverse nature of the role of executive director of the BID brings together a number of different aspects people tell me are excellent fits for my personality. And I can’t argue with them after being here for three and a half months. It’s part business, part politics, part networking. It’s part health care administration, it’s part community activism, it’s part information sharing. And these are a lot of the things I have been looking for [in a job], and having the opportunity to play a role and make an impact on a larger scale, what’s basically going to bring creative and innovative ideas to the BID.

Q: How have you gone about learning about your new position?
A: BIDS are monitored by the Department of Small Business Services and they provide a tremendous number of resources for learning the role.  I also use [former BID director and current Mosholu Preservation Corporation executive director] Roberto Garcia as a sounding board. That combined with just literally getting out there and walking the beats, so to speak, and meeting a lot of the merchants first hand, being very active in the community government structure, attending a lot of meetings, has been invaluable.

Q: Do merchants know what a BID is?
A: I think it depends on the merchant. I think that some of the merchants who may have been active on our own board of directors are obviously very knowledgeable about what the BID Is. There have been other merchants, as I go through the corridor, and even following up on issues as the BID director, where someone has been actually told, “Oh, the BID director is going to come talk to you,” and I get there and they’re like, “Who are you? Who do you work for? And what do you do?”

Q: What does a BID have to offer merchants?
A: Through tax assessments the BID provides what the area needs to make the shopping experience better. For example, it will pay for security staff or security cameras. It provides sanitation services to make the neighborhood safer and cleaner. We also provide marketing and advertising for the entire corridor — that can either be done as a business district as a whole or by helping individual businesses. We are also a voice for businesses to ensure that any issues they have are addressed in the fashion that’s really going to be supportive of their business. We can also look for other economic ways to support their businesses, either through identifying mini grants or loan opportunities or conducting business forums, or working with the local financial institutions.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge facing local businesses?
A: A major challenge in this district is illegal street vendors, especially now that it’s getting warmer; they tend to congest the sidewalks, making it difficult for people to pass by and shop.

Q: What’s a strength of the BID?
A: It’s a very diverse neighborhood, from a cultural standpoint, from an economic standpoint. And it’s a great place where people really get along and care about the neighborhood they live in. People are invested.

Q: What’s one thing people should know about you personally?
A: I’m a little bit of a people person. I’m like a bastion of useless information, as my wife says. I can talk to almost anyone about anything because I have a very deep general knowledge base, which allows me to relate to people on a number of different levels. I don’t pre-judge people. I’m an immigrant myself. I was born in Jamaica in the West Indies and came here when I was 3, when I moved to New York.   —Interview by Alex Kratz

Ed. Note: For more information about the Jerome-Gun Hill BID, call (718) 324-4946 or e-mail mlambert@montefiore.org.

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Some BID Facts

What’s a BID?
A Business Improvement District (BID) is a public/private partnership in which property and business owners elect to make a collective contribution to the maintenance, development and promotion of their commercial district.

The purpose of a BID is to improve conditions for business in a specific area, attract and retain businesses, generate jobs and improve the quality of life for those who use the district. A BID enables stakeholders to decide which services to provide to meet the district’s unique needs.

How is a BID funded?
BID programs and services are underwritten by a special assessment collected from property owners in the defined boundaries of the district. The assessment is levied on the property owners, who may then pass it on to their tenants, if their lease contains such a provision. The assessment is billed and collected by the City of New York and then disbursed to the District Management Association who in turn delivers the district’s services.

Who Oversees the BID?
Each BID is governed by a board of directors that is elected by the members of the district. The board of directors has the fiduciary responsibility and hires management to administer the BID on a day-to-day basis. The board is divided into classes that include commercial property owners, commercial tenants, residents, and public officials. BID members vote for directors in their respective classes. The majority of directors must be property owners. The mayor, comptroller, borough president and a member of the City Council are de facto board members.

For more information on forming a BID, call 311 and ask for the Business Improvement District Program.

—Info provided by Department of Small Business Services.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.